SB117: SB117 Public Officers and Employees; a misdemeanor offense for violations regarding complaints by public employees; provide

Georgia law already lets public employees report fraud, waste, and abuse in state and local government programs, and it bars public employers from punishing employees who make those reports or who refuse to go along with illegal activity. This bill revises that law, found in O.C.G.A. Section 45-1-4, in two main ways. First, it changes the attorney's fee rule so that a court must, rather than may, award reasonable attorney's fees, court costs, and expenses to a public employee who wins a retaliation lawsuit. Second, it adds a brand new penalty: any agent of a public employer who violates the law's ban on retaliation or on policies blocking employee complaints would be guilty of a misdemeanor. The bill keeps the existing definitions of public employee, public employer, retaliation, and supervisor, and repeals any conflicting laws.

• Requires courts to award reasonable attorney's fees, court costs, and expenses to a public employee who wins a retaliation lawsuit, replacing the prior discretionary standard.
• Creates a new misdemeanor criminal offense for any agent of a public employer who violates the law's ban on retaliating against whistleblowing employees or on policies that block employee complaints.
• Leaves in place the existing definitions of public employee, public employer, government agency, retaliation, and supervisor used throughout the whistleblower statute.
• Keeps intact the existing one-year or three-year deadline for a public employee to sue over retaliation, and the existing remedies such as reinstatement and back pay.
• Repeals any other Georgia laws that conflict with these changes.

State and local government agencies and their supervisors and other agents who handle employee complaints; public employees across state, judicial, and legislative branches, as well as local and regional government entities that receive state funding, who report fraud, waste, or abuse.

Public employees who blow the whistle on fraud or misconduct would have a stronger financial incentive to sue if punished, since winning would guarantee fee recovery instead of leaving it to a judge's discretion. Officials who retaliate could now also face criminal misdemeanor charges, not just a civil lawsuit.

• Section 1 revises O.C.G.A. Section 45-1-4, keeping definitions of 'government agency,' 'law, rule, or regulation,' 'public employee,' 'public employer,' 'retaliate,' and 'supervisor.'
• Subsection (d) continues to bar public employers from adopting policies that stop employees from reporting violations or from retaliating against employees who report or refuse to participate in illegal activity.
• Subsection (e) keeps the existing civil action window (one year after discovering retaliation or three years after it occurs, whichever is earlier) and remedies like reinstatement and lost wages.
• Subsection (f) is changed so that a court 'shall' award reasonable attorney's fees, court costs, and expenses to a prevailing public employee, making the award mandatory instead of optional.
• Subsection (g) is new and makes any agent of a public employer who violates subsection (d)'s anti-retaliation rules guilty of a misdemeanor.
• Section 2 repeals any conflicting laws.

1. 2026-01-12Senate Recommitted (Senate)
2. 2025-02-28Senate Read Second Time (Senate)
3. 2025-02-27Senate Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute (Senate)
4. 2025-02-10Senate Read and Referred (Senate)
5. 2025-02-06Senate Hopper (Senate)

• Ricky Williams (R, SD-025)Primary sponsor
• Chuck Payne (R, SD-054)
• Lee Anderson (R, SD-024)
• Max Burns (R, SD-023)
• Brian Strickland (R, SD-042)
• Steve Gooch (R, SD-051)
• Mike Hodges (R, SD-003)

• whistleblower protections
• public employees
• government accountability
• attorney's fees
• misdemeanor penalties